An interest in hosting
I find myself drawn to pubnixes, but - I've said this before - I don't really feel drawn to the communities inside them. They all seem more tech-centric than I'm comfortable with. So, today, as I browse Gemini in search of a new way to host my capsule, I had a thought - why not make a gemini hosting service like a pubnix, but without the need for SSH or a web browser?
Sort of similar to what Yestercities was. Well, a bit more than sort of. I guess I want what you'd get if you smashed a host like Yestercities into the community (or, what I assume the community is like) of a pubnix. A small community. That's a better way to describe this.
I want a place that is doubly a host for gemini capsules and a place for people to chat. With more focus on the chat.
I don't know. I dislike having to rely on others for my gemini capsule, but I also recognize that people will feel the same way if I'm hosting their capsules. But, if I go through the effort of setting everything up for myself, why not also give others the option to do the same?
Mar 05 · 2 months ago · 👍 bsj38381, JimmyLee, Atomic-Germ
18 Comments ↓
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 14:32:
(posted here since, as you know if you've read some of my recent posts, my capsule is offline :P)
Isn't thay what Flounder is?
I started there but wanted to use SSH. BTW there is nothing scary about SSH, and if you want to host anything you really need to learn to type 'ssh somehost'. It's after SSH'ing that things get more complicated.
Or you can just stay here and enjoy our fine company. If you don't mind an occasional bully.
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 15:49:
Never heard of Flounder.
Also, it's not that I'm scared of SSH, it's just that I have no idea how to use it. I'm also not sure if I even can, considering I'm on Windows. I dunno. (Yes, I do have plans to switch to Linux. Whenever I get my next laptop. Right now switching would only get in the way of what I'm doing.)
Also, I'm going to stay here no matter what I end up doing, Bubble is very homely :)
Not to overstate, but there isn't much to SSH itself. It just gives you a remote console to the server. Then you use Linux or BSD or even Windows if you must.
You can use Putty on Windows to log into SSH. You can use filezilla if all you need to do is move files back and forth.
Lagrange has an option "edit page with titan", i've been thinking about a server-side wiki program built around that sort of workflow. I'm sure that has to already exist, is that how you use flounder?
I can't remember how Flounder did it, it's been many years, yikes. I now suspect it may have been an http -facing editor.
But if you are serious about running a server of some sort, you really need to get off windows. [had to stop myself from hate speech]
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 16:20:
yes, yes, i know, “windows bad”. i only recently got away from “mainstream” computer stuff and, like i said, i plan to switch to linux once i get a new laptop. i just dont see the benefit of switching right now at this exact instant.
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 16:22:
@lamb-duh your comment makes me wonder how widely accepted titan is
titan seems well-applied around on gemini, from what i can see . but thats definitely dependant on where you hang out .
🚀 lars_the_bear · Mar 05 at 16:28:
Whether you use Windows on the desktop or not, I suspect that Windows on a _server_ will be expensive.
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 16:31:
oh, no, i dont plan to use windows on a server!!
🚀 lars_the_bear · Mar 05 at 16:53:
Well, Windows 10/11 has a native SSH client, and you can get Windows native executables for rsync and most of the other stuff you'd use to interact with a Linux or BSD server. Or you could install Windows Subsystem for Linux or a Linux virtual machine if you didn't want to make a complete switch to desktop/laptop Linux.
But I suspect it's easier to set up and manage a Linux/BSD server if you do, in fact, run similar software on the desktop. In my working life, I did occasionally have to connect to customers' Windows servers, and I didn't have a clue what to do, as I didn't use Windows regularly.
No rush!
You can also get one of those linux-for-windows things and practice cat and ls.
☀️ TooDuskForDawn [OP] · Mar 05 at 17:22:
talking w/ @JimmyLee about this a bit ago & he brought up having somebody else help w/ a lot of the backend stuff which i thought was a good idea.
@lars_the_bear - i plan to make a complete switch to linux once i get a new laptop. i might mess around with a VM until then. i was looking at gemini server software & was slightly confused on the difference between linux & BSD though... is BSD something different from linux? from the small amount of research i put into it, it looked like it wasn't
BSD is a Unix OS from a single source and great documentation. Linux is really a kernel with a ton of GPL code by various parties packaged by any of hundreds of different -flavored distros.
Both are pretty similar in practice with subtle differences. Think American vs British English...
BSD is often the choice for servers because of amazing reliability. Linux supports more hardware. maybe, and is easier to configure for desktop stuff, in my limited personal experience
@lqmb-duh yep, there is a wiki that uses Titan for edits. Don't have the link right now. the code is probably available as well.
@tooduskfordawn - I like the idea. I'd be interested in an alpha version. gemini capsule editing straight from a titan enabled page would be neat.
I should really add Titan upload support into my embeddable server Fornax...
🚀 lars_the_bear · Mar 06 at 07:26:
@TooDuskForDawn : Linux is to BSD as HTTP is to Gemini ;)
I tend to agree with @stack that we can consider these like different dialects of the same language, but I've seen brutal disagreements between Linux and BSD enthusiasts. Personally, I use both, and consider them to be in practise equivalent. You'll have no difficulty getting a Gemini server for either.